The Case
Eddie Clegg was walking along the shoulder of 20th Street in Ogden after police had impounded his motorhome and truck earlier that day. He told officers he felt like he had “lost everything.”
Police received reports of a man “acting erratic” near the road and stopped to check on him. When officers ordered Clegg to stop, he kept walking, shouting about losing his home. Within a minute, he was handcuffed and arrested.
Clegg was later charged with three offenses:
- Failure to stop at the command of an officer (a class A misdemeanor)
- Interference with an arresting officer (a class B misdemeanor)
- Pedestrian improperly on a roadway (an infraction)
A jury convicted him on the “failure to stop” and “pedestrian” charges, but acquitted him of interfering with an arrest.
The Appeal
Clegg appealed the failure to stop conviction. His argument was simple: the State did not prove that he ignored the officer for the purpose of avoiding arrest, which is a key element of the crime under Utah Code § 76-8-305.5(2).
The trial judge denied his motion to overturn the verdict. Clegg took his case to the Utah Court of Appeals.
What the Law Requires
Under Utah law, prosecutors must prove three things to convict someone of failing to stop at an officer’s command:
- The person fled from or tried to elude an officer,
- After the officer gave a verbal or visual command to stop, and
- The person did so for the purpose of avoiding arrest.
Simply ignoring an officer isn’t enough. The State must show that the person believed they were about to be arrested and acted to escape that arrest.
The Court’s Reasoning
The appellate judges agreed with Clegg. They ruled there was no evidence—direct or circumstantial—that he intended to avoid arrest.
The body-camera footage showed Clegg yelling about his motorhome being impounded, not about avoiding arrest. When told he was under arrest, he responded, “For what?”—a sign he didn’t realize he could be arrested just for walking on the road.
The court noted that officers were responding to a safety hazard, not a crime. Walking on the wrong part of the road is an infraction, and it’s rare for police to arrest someone for that.
Without proof that Clegg thought he faced arrest, the jury’s conclusion that he acted “to avoid arrest” was speculative, not reasonable.
The Decision
The Utah Court of Appeals vacated Clegg’s conviction for failing to stop at the command of an officer. His minor infraction for being a pedestrian improperly on a roadway remained, but his misdemeanor conviction was overturned.
The court emphasized that ignoring police commands isn’t automatically a crime—it becomes one only when done with intent to avoid arrest.
Key Takeaway
This decision highlights how Utah courts interpret intent under the “failure to stop” statute. To convict, prosecutors must prove why a person didn’t stop—not just that they didn’t.
For Utah residents, this case reinforces the distinction between disobeying an officer and actively fleeing on foot to avoid arrest.